Comments on: Factors that May Inhibit the Stress Response & Lower Cortisol

By: Ana Aleksic, MSc (Pharmacy)

Ana Aleksic, MSc (Pharmacy) — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 14:45:14 +0000

In reply to Roberto Bedney. Thank you for your support, Roberto!

By: Roberto Bedney

Roberto Bedney — Sun, 28 Apr 2019 20:23:16 +0000

Very good article! We are linking to this particularly great post on our website. Keep up the great writing.

By: Susan S

Susan S — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 03:28:47 +0000

There is a connection with GABA converting to glutamate in some individuals if GABA shunt impaired, or something like that. Go to holistichelp.net and look up GABA/glutamate. Sometimes I do well with GABA and sometimes not. I’ve also read that you need to have “leaky brain” for GABA to work (“Why My Brain Isn’t Working).

By: Messerschmitt

Messerschmitt — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 16:34:29 +0000

This totally describes what I have suffered from my whole life (47 years). Thank you for the post!

By: Chola

Chola — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 15:04:41 +0000

I’m not an expert (yet) but the general idea should be this: GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter (“int”), and let’s say noradrenalin (NA) is an excitatory neurotransmitter (“ent”). Brain cells have receptors for more neurotransmitters, some have more for one, some for other neurotransmitter, but let’s simplify that by saying “GABA neuron or NA neuron”. We will now use 2 different models to explain different outcomes with the same supplement (in this case GABA). Imagine described pathways as a string of multiple neurons.
Pathway 1: ↑GABA(int) -> ↓GABA(int) -> ↑NA(ent) – Here more activated inhibitory neuron inhibited another inhibitory neuron which reduced the inhibition of excitatory neuron and the end signal now is amplified compared to baseline – resulting in anxiety, anger, agitation;
Pathway 2: ↑GABA(int) -> ↓NA(ent) – Here more activated inhibitory neuron inhibited excitatory neuron and the signal now is reduced compared to baseline – resulting with anxiolytic calming effects.
It seems like most people are wired like pathway 2, while you’re like pathway one.

Keep in mind this is oversimplified just for your understanding, there are more neurotransmitters involved and all people have both pathways, but this is just for illustration

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 15:57:36 +0000

Most GABA promoting supplements I’ve tried made me feel more stressed. Any idea why this happens ?

By: Carl Betz

Carl Betz — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 00:28:45 +0000

In reply to dylan. Dylan, have you found that PS is working long term? I'm taking 100mg before bed, and thats it. Also, any new info about this? I have high A.M. Cortisol (28.1) that I cant get down, seems like the CRH switch is stuck in the ON position. Bryan Walsh is definitely a leader in this space.

By: Joseph M. Cohen

Joseph M. Cohen — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 23:56:51 +0000

In reply to John J Söder.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26577018

By: John J Söder

John J Söder — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 23:42:37 +0000

According to the source for that Butyrate increases GABA, it seems to be plant-cells, Not human cells.

By: Joseph M. Cohen

Joseph M. Cohen — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 18:50:58 +0000

In reply to Oskar. I have a post on FAAH

By: Oskar

Oskar — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 17:19:31 +0000

While you are at writing those panacea posts about curcumin, resveratrol etc you could write one about CBD oil as well. I suspect that as a FAAH inhibitor it might be especially relevant for anyone with screwed up stress hormones, anxiety issues etc as it appears that the stress response and amygdala signalling is controlled in large part via endocannabinoid system in PFC and amygdala. Take a look at the following article for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2889099/

By: Christian Michel

Christian Michel — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 08:48:41 +0000

Perhaps also holy basil (ocimum sanctum)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249909/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15587591
Boerhavia diffusa
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4053255/#B72
Inula racemosa.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 05:03:57 +0000

Oh and to add to that, my post meal fatigue seems to be caused by high cortisol as well. Since cortisol triples when you eat, I have to eat way smaller meals earlier in the day as to avoid huge spikes, and slightly larger meals later in the day. When taking PS, I can sort of blunt the spikes, and almost have got rid of what I thought were food sensitivities but may have just been high cortisol. Maybe your theory about CRH being the culprit is correct all along. But what makes it go so high and stay so high?

By: dylan

dylan — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 04:57:38 +0000

Nice post, bro. Lately I’ve been using very high dose phosphatidyl serine, and it has been inhibiting my over responsive HPA-axis. I’ve noticed that when my cortisol goes too high that I go hypothyroid. When I take PS, it lowers it and the hypothyroid symptoms go away, but I haven’t perfected it yet.

According to Dr. Bryan Walsh, people with HPA-axis dysnfunction (high cortisol) should take 2 grams of PS a day. I’m close to 3 grams on some days, but nothing else works like it.

https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/truth-about-adrenal-fatigue

What I’ve noticed over the last two years with hpa-axis dysfunction is that I have basically tried everything and spent allot of money to learn that doctors have no clue about what it is or how to treat it.

It seems to me that it’s similar to PTSD, and your body overproduces cortisol in response to stress, leading to the phenomena of post exercise fatigue, and hypothyroid symptoms.

I would surmise that extremely high levels of cortisol would cause condition much like insulin resistance when insulin is too high, it would be cortisol resistance, and since the levels of cortisol would be resisted, it would make thyroid hormone inaccessible, even though blood levels of t3 look normal.

What causes your system to stay out of order for so long is hard to know. Could it be auto immune or pathogen driven? Could it just be genetics, and it’s sort of like buggy genetic code that allows for an infinite loop to occur.

By: Joseph M. Cohen

Joseph M. Cohen — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 03:32:15 +0000

In reply to Daniela R.. Thanks, I'm trying to make articles more user-friendly, but still not dumb the content down

By: thomlandia

thomlandia — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 03:30:23 +0000

Question: Are the probiotics you mainly link – Swanson 65 and Garden of Life – are they at least histamine neutral?

By: Daniela R.

Daniela R. — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 03:06:40 +0000

I LOVE this new kind of articles – extremely simplified and compressed amount of information.